“Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage -- it can be delightful.”
Life itself, as well as to give life, has definitely not been an easy process and it certainly does take a lot of courage which, thankfully, I have; but delightful? That remains to be seen! My hope is that Madonna was right when she said “If it’s bitter at the start, then it’s sweeter in the end” (lyrics from “Get Together”).
Since a lot of you have asked I have decided to post a summary of what is to come so that I don’t have to keep explaining things. I am currently taking 7 pills a day just to keep things stable but that will be changing next week as we start the next level of treatment and TTC. I will continue to take Synthroid and Metformin now and possibly forever, so I am not including these in this process. Also, for those of you who don’t know, a woman’s cycle begins on the first day of AF. So, now that that’s understood, much of the following will be in CD (cycle days). Sorry if some parts are TMI!
Step 1: Since I do not have a regular cycle, I need to take Provera in order to begin AF. This is simply a progestin, a synthetic variant of the human hormone progesterone. I need to take 2 pills a day for 3 days and then I can expect AF shortly after, bringing me to CD1.
Step 2: Once AF and CD1 arrive, things become quite scheduled. From CD3-7 I have to take Clomid. This is for ovarian stimulation and will cause new follicles (eggs) to develop, typically one or more.
Step 3: On CD9, we have to BD (baby dance) because on CD10 I have to go for an ultrasound to check the follicle development. If the follicle(s) are good, I will be given Ovidrel, an injection of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG). This will clinically induce ovulation, release the eggs for fertilization, and then we continue to BD as per the doctor’s orders (romantic, huh?). So, why BD on CD9? Think back to high school sex-ed for a minute. Sperm can live for a few days, so this way when you release the eggs on CD10, the “boys” will be there to “greet” them. Oh, and if the follicle(s) are not ready they will tell me to come back for another ultrasound approximately 2 days later. (DH will be present for the first ultrasound, but if I have to go back I will go on my own.)
Step 4: The 2WW (2 week wait). Ovidrel can cause a false positive on a HPT (Home Pregnancy Test) so you have to wait about 2 weeks. At this point, I will use a HPT and get a blood test as well I believe.
I will also be taking pre-natal vitamins throughout this process (and future pregnancy). You take one in the morning and one at night. These are prescription, not over the counter.
So, that’s the process. It is pretty scientific, but does not guarantee a pregnancy. We will do this process three times and if we do not succeed we will move on to in-vitro, adoption, etc… Things are getting a little more complicated, somewhat scheduled, and possibly “hormonal” so I would like to apologize to DH in advance!
Start date: February 24, 2010 while we are in the Dominican Republic.
